The new market structure draft from Senate Banking has the best developer protections language we have seen to date. Still digging into the rest of the bill, but this is worth celebrating immediately. Could not be more thrilled to see @BankingGOP include an amendment to Section 1960, the criminal code provision related to unlicensed money transmission, in this draft. In addition to including the BRCA and *comprehensive* software developer and self-custody protections - which are so important to protecting developers - this is what we came for. Not only does this make it clear that a person needs control over assets to be considered a money transmitting business operator, it extends the applicability of this section retroactively.

It’s the beginning of a new Renaissance in crypto. Privacy has always been the missing piece holding crypto back. The team has worked relentlessly: inventing the math (Plonk, etc), writing the language (Noir), building the network (Aztec). Just like past Renaissances before, Aztec’s new brand marks a turning point that reflects what the team has invented, wrote, and built. It’s a visual prelude to where crypto / Aztec is headed next: technically, economically, and philosophically. Any Renaissance typically follows difficult / dark times. In history, the European Renaissance followed the Dark Ages (aka Middle Ages) and the Japanese Renaissance (aka the Meiji Restoration) followed technological stagnation and a rigid isolated social hierarchy. In crypto, our new Renaissance follows the Gensler/Warren era, the unjust and political court cases against software developers that were detained in Amsterdam and the US and the fact that everything is, simply, public – all your transactions, all your history, public, saved onchain for eternity. History has verified that it’s always darkest right before dawn. That moment of changing from dark to light, for me, is most intriguing, not only in history, but also in art. During the Renaissance, “chiaroscuro” was the term used to describe the interplay between light and dark. I remember sitting in my high school art history class in 2004 one sunny morning, and my teacher (Mrs Benveniste) was showing us Rembrandt’s use of chiaroscuro in his famous Night Watch painting. Rembrandt’s chiaroscuro was also possible due to advancements in toolings: new oil paints, better tinted supports, and printmaking innovations. Night Watch was commissioned by the then mayor and leader of the civic guard of Amsterdam, who wanted a group portrait of his militia company, to celebrate the city’s defenders and promote civic pride. In crypto’s new Renaissance, unlocked by @aztecnetwork and @noirlang, builders will soon have all the tools required to easily paint their future and vision, with ease and choose their destiny, without needing Rembrandt’s genius; tools needed to defend and promote civic freedoms – in Amsterdam, in the US and beyond. Welcome to the new Renaissance, where you will soon be fully in control of your own history and be able to develop your own Night Watch.

Software developer protections are a non-negotiable. Happy for Aztec Labs to sign-up to this to ensure developers are protected. Protect. Developers. Now.